Vehicle wheel and chassis alignment device



July 27, 1937. 1 E 2,087,909"

VEHICLE WHEEL AND CHASSIS ALIGNMENT DEVICE Filed Feb. 17, 1957 I 2' she ets sheet 1 ATTORNEY July 27, 1937.; o. HAUCKE VEHICLE WHEEL AND CHASSIS ALIGNMENT DEVICE Filed Feb. 17; 1937 4 zisheets-shez z INVENTOR. V 06 vY/n //au ke ATTORNEY.

Patented July 27, 1937 Oswin Haucke, Brooklyn, N. Y. Application February 1'7, 1937, Serial No. 126,108

4 Claims.

The invention relates to alignment devices, such as are used for the alignment of the wheels 7 and chassis of vehicles, particularly of the automotive type. It has for one of its main objects to provide a device by means of which all the various alignments of the wheels, chassis andaxles of a vehicle may be checked. Another object is to provide a device by means of which the steering gear mechanism 01' a vehicle may be tested as to its various angular adjustments, as well as for inaccuracies in adjustment or alignment of the various parts of the steering gear mechanism.

A further object is to provide means by which the amount of such inaccuracies will be readily indicated. A still further object is to so construct the device that it may be used with automobiles of various sizes and makes. Additional objects are to provide a device of simple and rugged construction, which requires no particular skill to operate, which will occupy but small space, which will effect a great saving in both time and labor, and which can be manufactured and installed at a comparatively low cost.

These and various other objects and advantages will be readily understood from the following description and from the accompanyin drawings oi a preferred embodiment of the in vention, in which, however, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims. In the drawings I Fig. 1 is a plan view of the device;

Fig. 2 a sideelevation;

Fig. 3 a front view;

Fig. 4 a plan view of one 01' the wheel car: riages, shown partly in'cross-section;

Fig. 5 a cross-sectional, side elevation 01 Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 another plan view similar to Fig. 4, but showing the parts in difl'erent positions;

Fig. '7 a plan view 01' the carriage with certain parts removed;

Fig. 8 a bottom view of one of the parts employed in the'carriage; and I Figs. 9 and 10 show, respectively. a top view and a side view of another part used in the carriage;

Referring first to consists 01' two carriages ||i mounted on two channel. rails H and Figs. 1, 2 and 3 the device which are slidingly I2, and 01 a pair of. runways l3 and I4, with which the carriages can be aligned. The runways are supported on a plurality of beams IS. The rear ends i6 01 the runways are inclined so that a car may 5 readily be driven on to them.

The construction of plainly shown in Figs. 1

one of the carriages is to 10 inclusive. It consists of the carriage proper I0, which in this case has been shown of rect two downwardly-extending flanges which straddle the rails angular shape and with H and I8, I! and I2. The carriage.

is mounted on these rails by a plurality of small wheels l9 and 20. It is cular recess 2| 22 and 23. As shown in Fig.

also provided with a cirand with two radial projections '7, a plurality of] key-ways 24 are milled in the bottom of the recess 2|, and in these. key disks 25 are slidingly mounted. One of these key detail in Figs. 9 and 10.

disks is shown in Each of them consists of the disk proper which is provided with keys 26 and 21 at opposite si des of the disk. and the keys are located substantially at right angles to each other.

A'cup-shaped member 2a, the bottom face of which is plainly milled in the bottom key disk the recess 2| is member 28, move in any direction of larger it is evident in the recess due to the shown in Fig. 8, is likewise prokey-ways 29 which are The keys 26 of the As size than the cup-shaped that this member may action oi the key disks. A turn table 30 is mounted inside of the cup-shaped member and has a boss 3| which extends into an opening 32 i'ormed in the bottom of A plurality of balls 33 the cup-shaped member. are interposed between the bottom ofrthe recess in the member 28 and the turn table 30 so as to facilitate its rotation.

A substantial rectangular opening 34 isiormed in the bottom or the ca rriage and aligns with a similarly shaped s'ocket 35 formed in the boss 3|. A plunger 36 is slidingly mounted in the opening 34 and actuated When the plunger 36 is Fig. 5, the cup-shaped turn table 30, is locked rlage so that these parts by means of a lever 31.

in the position shown in member, as well as the in relation to thecarcan not move inrelation to the carriage or toeach other.

A pressure shoe slot 40, is mounted in 38, having a rearwardly extending bar 39 slidingly mounted in a rectangular the carriage in such a manner that 'the pressure shoe extends into the recess 2|. The rectangular slot 40 is formed in the projection 22, as

drilled in the projection plainly illustrated in Fig. 4 The pressure shoe is always held in engagemeni with the cup-shaped member 28 by means of twc mounted on rods 42 mounted in openings 41 22. A similar pressun V on the rails i l and may be clamped to these rails shoe 44 is slidingly mounted in the boss 23 and is in all particulars like the sliding shoe just described.

The bars 39 are graduated, as for example in inches and fraction of inches, as shown at 45 and openings 46 are formed in the top faces of the projections through which the graduations on the bars may be viewed. Pointers 41 are secured on top of the'projections, as shown. An arcuated and graduated scale 48 is rigidly secured on the top edge of the cup-shaped member 2!, while a pointer 49 is secured on the turn table 30. A depression 50 is formed centrally in the turn table. This depression is of such a. size and shape so as to center the tire of a wheel when the wheel is driven on to the turn table.

As previously said the carriages are mounted by means of clamping screws 5|. To check the alignment of the wheels and the chassis of an automobile, the automobile is driven on the runways and the carriages aligned with the front wheels of the automobile. When thus aligned, the wheels are run into the depressions 50, being guided by grooves 52 and 53 formed, respectively, in the upper faces of the carriage and in the cup-shaped member. While the automobile is driven on to the carriages the plungers 36 are engaged in the socket 35 so that the various parts of the carriage cannot move or rotate in relation to each other.

With the front wheels in this position, the wheels may readily be checked by means of the scale lines 54 imprinted on the runways and by .the scale lines 55 imprinted on the front of the channel beam ll. Pointers 56 located on the front of each carriage facilitate the readings of the scale 55.

To ascertain the parallelism of the front and rear axles, the device shown in Figs. 1 and 2 is employed. The automobile is driven up on the device so that the front wheels 51 rest in the depressions in'the carriages and the rear wheels 58 on the runways. The device consists of a pair of separate arms 59, on the front end of which a channel 60 is formed by extending the metal downwardly and sidewardly. This extension is adapted to slide along the outside of the runways so as to hold the arms at right angles to the runways. A steel scale 6| is placed slidingly in the channel 60 and scale lines 62 are imprinted on the side of the runways.

It will be seen that, when the front wheels are located in the carriages and the arms 59 are moved along the runways until they contact with the tire of the wheel, by centralizing the scale 6| between the arms, the distance between the front wheels and the rear wheels may be easily ascertained.

I have found in practice that to obtain all the various measurements with the greatest degree of accuracy, the automobile should preferably be secured to the device in such a manner that the chassis cannot move in relationthereto. This is particularly true whenchecking up the steering wheel mechanism. For this reason I mount a jack 63 transversely on the rails l l and I2. This jack is slidingly mounted on the rails by means of slots 64 and clamps 65 so that it may be placed directly under the front axle.

When so located the jack is raised until it abuts the axle, but does not lift it, after which the axle is clamped in the V-shaped trough 66 by means of ordinary c clamps passed over the axle and lugs 61 provided on the jack.

While I have shown and prefer to employ a pair of runways, such as shown at l3 and I, it is evident that the rails H and I2, together with the carriages mounted thereon, might be mounted in a pit in the floor so that the runways might be dispensed with. In like manner, while I prefer to secure the chassis of the automobile being tested by means of a jack, such as shown in 63, other means for securing the chassis might be employed.

Having described the invention and its'objects, what I claim as new and wish to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. An alignment device of the class described comprising, a pair of rails; a pair of carriages slidingly mounted on said rails; a circular recess formed in each of said carriages; a cupped disk, of smaller diameter than the recess in the carriage, inserted in said recess and free to move therein in any horizontal direction; a turn table rotatingly mounted in said cupped disk; wheel centering means provided in the top face of said turn tables; and means associated with the carriages for ascertaining the movements of the cupped disks.

2. An alignment device of the class described comprising, a pair of rails; a pair of carriages slidingly mounted on said rails; a circular recess formed in each of said carriages; a cupped disk, of smaller diameter than the recess in the carriage, inserted in said recess and free to move therein in any horizontal direction; a turn table rotatingly mounted in said cupped disk; wheel centering means provided in the top face of said turn tables; means associated with the carriages for ascertaining the movements of the cupped disks; and means associated with the turn table and the cupped disks for ascertaining the amount of rotation of the turn tables.

3. An alignment device of the class described comprising, a pair of rails; a pair of carriages slidingly mounted on said rails; a circular recess formed in each of said carriages; a cupped disk, of smaller diameter than the recess in the carriage, inserted in said recess and. free to move therein in any horizontal direction; a turn table rotatingly mounted in said cupped disk; wheel centering means provided in the top face of said turn tables; means associated with the carriages for ascertaining the movements of the cupped disks; means associated with the turn tables and the cupped disks for ascertaining the amount of rotation of the turn tables; and means for locking the carriages to the rails.

4. An alignment device of the class described comprising, a pair of rails; a pair of carriages slidingly mounted on said rails; a circular recess formed in each of said carriages; a cupped disk, of smaller diameter than the recess in the carriage, inserted in said recess and free to move therein in any horizontal direction; a turn table rotatingly mounted in said cupped disk; wheel centering means provided in the top face of said turn tables; means associated with the carriages for ascertaining the movements of the cupped disks; means associated with the turn tables and the cupped disks for ascertaining the amount of rotation of the turn tables; means for locking the carriages to the rails; and means for locking disks and the turn tables to the carriages in their inoperative positions.

OSWIN HAUCKE. 

